Stories from Kent's Bike Blog
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Fat Cyclist: Media Mastermind
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Jan 31, 2012
If you are sharp of eye and mind you might be thinking "Hey Kent, you got the title of Fatty's book wrong in your review, it's Comedian Mastermind, not Media Mastermind." Well, sharp reader, you're right about the title but… Full Story »
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Topics:
- Fat Cyclist
- Kent
- ride
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Perry Explains Punctures
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Jan 19, 2012
It's raining when I bicycle over the fragment of a broken beer bottle. The rain is making the whole road glisten like glass in my headlight beam so a single shard of inconvenience is effectively camouflaged. The shard is a perfect sword, the rain is perfect cutting oil and my tire is the perfect victim. I hear a small crunch and a second later I feel the air pouring out the gash at approximately the same rate as curses leave my lips. I coast to a stop, surveying my damp options. Because I am a cautious man, I have prepared… Full Story »
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Stop SOPA and PIPA
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Jan 18, 2012
I'll get back to posting bike stuff tomorrow but I'm offline today to protest SOPA and PIPA. Better folks than me can explain it better and for the moment you can find that information on the internet. If you'd like… Full Story »
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Topics:
- bicycle
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Shopping Online, Shopping Local
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Jan 17, 2012
I have friends, earnest good friends, who rage against online shopping. Amazon is killing independent bookstores they assure me and places like Performance/Nashbar are killing local bike shops. I have other friends, earnest good friends, who shop online and find deals and rage against being "gouged" by their local shops. I live in a kind of a middle earth, a place I suspect you may live as well, where some shopping carts are real and some are virtual, some shops are bricks and mortar and some are clicks and bits. It's… Full Story »
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The Richest Man in Issaquah
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Jan 8, 2012
Here at the Peterson estate we're extremely rich in both love and laughter. Over dinner in our 800 square foot Issaquah chateau the laughter side of our ledgers went up several hundred percent when Christine and the boys read this recent comment posted by my friend Jan in response to my recent blog post titled "Why I Don't Buy Expensive Bicycles".Jan Heine said...I think the difference between Kent and I (Jan) is simple: I don't have the time to work on my bikes all the time, and I don't have the money to buy bikes frequently.In 14 years I have… Full Story »
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Why I Don't Buy Expensive Bicycles
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Jan 6, 2012
Over on his blog, my friend Jan Heine has a post where he asks and answers the question: Why Ride an Expensive Bicycle? Jan effectively presents several factors that make a higher end bike well worth their higher price tags and the fact that top builders have long wait lists of folks happy to buy such lovely machines attest to the validity of Jan's assertions. And I have ridden many, many miles with friends who are thrilled with their well-crafted machines or… Full Story »
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The Very Best Adventures
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Dec 31, 2011
That struck me as good advice, advice worth taking to heart and acting on. Note that this is not a lack of resolve, but rather a resolution to act daily with resolution. Looking back on 2011, I see the results… Full Story »
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Santa is Just As Real As Bigfoot
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Dec 20, 2011
Now I like to think I'm as cynical and jaded as the next guy, but I can't let this bratty little eight-year-old's comment pass unchallenged as she points triumphantly to the MADE IN CHINA sticker that adorns the head tube of the tiny blue bicycle. Maybe it is the tears welling up in the eyes of her younger brother, eyes that had been filled with only wonder a second ago. Maybe it is the world-weary, lecturing, superior tone of this certain cynical little girl… Full Story »
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RIDE: Short fiction about bicycles
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Dec 16, 2011
Please DON'T buy it just to get a story from me, I give stories away for free all the time here and my little bit of fiction included in Ride will be familiar to my readers. Buy Ride for all… Full Story »
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Opting Out of the Auto Arms Race
Kent's Bike Blog &bull Dec 14, 2011
Decades ago I made the decision to basically opt out of the automotive world. I still live on the same planet as my car-owning, car-driving friends, but I decided that I could manage to move around on this planet without owning or driving an automobile. This has worked out better than fine for me and I encourage people to enrich their lives by getting out and about under their… Full Story »
